Essay series

On one of the other blogs I read, there is something called a series going on. To my understanding, a blog series is a string of posts with something in common. I'm going to attempt to do something similer.
Since I've had trouble keeping a story going, it will be little excerpts of nothing. Perhaps they will share characters or be from the same story, maybe not! We'll have to see what happens.

Our "friend(s)", the possum(s)

We have been the unwilling hosts of several possums for the last few weeks. We've formerly thought we had only heard one, but no- of course, right after we trap one, the other- the vicious one- comes looking. Lovely. And for various reasons we have been led to believe that one is a female. The gestation period is eleven days. Enough said.

And since they've been around for several weeks, our biggest worry is that we have a whole tribe of the critters running around the neighborhood. I just hope we can trap them before we plant our kale... 

The first round of gifts

Tomorrow the exchange student that we've had for five months goes home. His cousin comes soon, but still...
Because he's missing Christmas, we had a smaller version tonight. My sister got in her Christmas dress (which she always does for Christmas morning), we did pictures on the steps, and we ate cookies. It was fairly typical, minus the lack of presents from Santa, and the fact that our family-of-four didn't give gifts to each other or open stockings.
When people say that Christmas isn't about the gifts, they're lying. Christmas is ALL about the gifts. It's about the biggest gift in the world- and, of course, giving presents to others.
Receiving them is just a side effect, and while that might be a very pleasant side effect indeed,  the real gift is the giving.
What do you do when you open a pleasant present? :-) Do you freak out and scream with happiness (like Caroline when she got her nook) or do you jump up and hug the person who gave it to you? Or do you cry? (I posted some videos of various reactions down below)

It's pretty cool- watch what happens this Christmas when your family and friends open their presents!

Kids opening Christmas presents

A grandfather receiving a puppy

Becoming: Proverbs 31 Girl (reblogged)

This is another post that I really liked. I've realized lately that I've not lived up to this, and I'm trying to change. Really- but it's a bit difficult. Here it is!

Becoming Proverbs 31 girl

(btw, it's from Daughter by Design, by Anna Bachinsky)

The Elessar Firebird

The Elessar Firebird

----Scientific Classification---- Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Lari-Alcidae Genus: Phalacrocorax Species: P. Incendium

The Elessar Firebird (P. Incendium) is a magnificent bird. Named for the famed Gondorian king Aragorn, the appearances of the female and male are largely different.

The female (originally called P. Etiamstella) is larger than the male, with wings made just right for swimming and flying alike. With webbed feet, any fish that escaped her scoop beak is lucky. Her coloring is fairly bland, though her fire-colored feet and bluish beak have earned her nicknames such as ‘Fire-foot’ and ‘Blue-bill’.

After fishing, she returns to the aerie where her mate is waiting. If there is a chick (they only can have one egg at once, making the species highly endangered), she will return four times a day; otherwise she will return only once. If she fails to do so at precisely the right time, her mate and chick will die.

The male (originally and yet still P. Incendium) was at first mistaken for the phoenix, when it still lived in the cliff aeries in Greece. Stories arose from this very bird, telling of how it was reborn in ashes, lived forever, and could heal any poison. While sadly this creature could not do any of this, he does protect his nest fiercely, and scares away predators with his blinding plumage.

He has clawed feet to climb and grip rocks, and a sharp beak and talons to stab and rip any invaders apart. He doesn’t fly; his wings are used only to frighten predators, or to impress a potential mate. They are elliptical-shaped, though with no purpose. There are two eyes in the far upper corners to scare, as well.

However, if this description conjures up an image of a hostile, beautiful yet terrible bird, do not be fooled. The male is an excellent judge of character, and if the creature does not attack immediately, he will entertain the other creature with regurgitated fish. It may be poisonous, or it may not be- all according to his appraisal. If you find yourself in this situation, you have no choice- if you do not eat it, you will be torn apart, regardless of your intentions. The Elessar Firebird is an easily insulted bird, and will not hesitate to kill at the slightest slip-of-the-tongue.  

The Elessar Firebird once lived far across the globe, but now lives only in the Pacific cliffs of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Canada. The eggs were once in high demand, but because of this, the population has dwindled and now is under such protection that no one has seen it much less heard of it (except for in the legends).  The female shall forever be known as ‘that crazy seagull over there’, and never known for who she is. Of course you’ll hear stories ever so often of the blazing bird in the cliffs… but that is for another story altogether.

Help me please...

I never meant this to be a blog in which I send off prayer requests for all you lovely readers to pray. I hope that that's not what it appears to the general looker. But lo and behold,  I just happen to start writing about life in the most stressful period of time I have ever experienced.
I won't kid you- it's insane. I have so much to do in the next two weeks that I don't know how I'm going to get it all done. Finals, book reports, science essays, writing contests, and Future City- you can see how I'm freaking out a bit.
I'm really worried that I'll get sick. That's what happened last January with Sagecliff, remember? I have a major issue with staying on task, and that is the cause of much of my despair. (sorry if I sound overly eloquent, I am writing a science report as well and it's hard switching between code-language uses. Science teacher and friends, that is. I'll post it later, probably- I like the bird a lot!) Taking breaks often AWAY from the computer works, but a one-tab-only limit for me would be amazing.

Please share your prayer requests with me- I get really lonely with only Anonymous posting, and I want to be able to pray for all you.
Thanks for letting me complain! (It really does help, y'know)
Katie


An awesome quote I found on this topic: “Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.”  ~ Rick Warren

           

Christmas

A few days ago we decorated our two Christmas trees. They're both pretty short (6' or so) because of the cold weather and late timing, but with some of our ornaments, they were perfect.

I love this time of year. Of course we have Christmas, with the cookies and presents, and family, but we also have snow, and the time inside with friends and relatives. Seriously, who isn't fond of the idea of sitting by a crackling fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate, and chatting with Cousin Sally and Friend Bob? It'd be hard not to be.
This time of year is not only special for those reasons, but also for the coming of Jesus Christ. In this post, I want to focus on Mary and Joseph, though.

(some pictures of our living room)

My most beautifully (in my eyes) wrapped present. It's for our exchange student, if you were wondering.

Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas

If you went back in time to that first Christmas night, chances are, it'd look nothing like the foam Nativity scenes you made in kindergarten. Jesus was probably born in one of the caves used for sheltering the animals, and Mary was likely not a woman in blue robes kneeling next to a sleeping baby swaddled in pure white in a nice wood box. 

Lets start from the top- Mary. (You can do your stable research later, and if you find something different, please comment- I want to hear!) During Bible times, girls usually married at the age of 13-14. If she was betrothed to Joseph, she would likely be at the beginning of the spectrum: meaning, late twelve or thirteen. Using today's reckoning (of most people), she would not have been a woman. 

Second, stables would not have been pristine places. The straw in the manger would have been wet and half-chewed, and might have even been moldy- the opposite of soft sweet hay. It wouldn't have been cleaned often- perhaps even never- and the smell would reflect that. The swaddling cloth was at best a little ragged and dirty. It probably smelled, too.

When you hear people say that Jesus didn't come into the world as a king, believe it. As much as you might want to roll your eyes at an overstated statement, he certainly didn't. Mary- hardly more than a scared child- had to give birth to the Savior of the World in a dirty, smelly cave, in an unfamiliar town, with no one but an equally frightened, unexperianced carpenter to help. But through this, the one who was worthy (and could easily have been)  to be born in luxury was born in conditions worse than the poorest peasant.

Even if he hadn't been the Son of God, it's no wonder he was humble...

a work in progress: The Trouble With If-Onlys

This post is from the blog of a very good friend of mine. I have a lot of other friends going through extremely difficult times, and have wanted to do something like this, but how are you supposed to put it, while staying sensitive? Sarah was able to find the words I couldn't, and while I haven't shared any other posts with y'all, I think this one is an excellent one to start with.


a work in progress: The Trouble With If-Onlys: This past weekend I was in Atlanta attending my cousin’s wedding. I live in Chicagoland, but my entire extended family on both sides lives ...